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Saturday, February 11, 2017

coconut kitchari

According to Ayurvedic medicine, Kitchari means mixture. It combines grains, spices, and vegetables that have medicinal cleansing affects on the body and is used in many detox cleanses. I found different recipes that use other beans like split yellow mung beans or lentils and a variety of different spices including mustard seeds, coriander, and asafoetida. This version reflects the usual contents of my kitchen, and my love for coconut milk.

coconut kitchari

1 cup mung beans (soaked, drained, and rinsed)

1 can coconut milk

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

2 cloves garlic

1 medium white or yellow onion

1" turmeric

1" ginger

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cups water

lots of fresh cilantro

fresh lime juice

brown basmati rice

Soak the mung beans for 4-8 hours, I usually get them soaking the morning I am going to make them.

Chop the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic into small cubes. In a high speed blender, whiz together the coconut milk, turmeric and ginger roots, cumin, and salt and pepper. Add this and the chopped veggies to a large soup pot. Drain and rinse the mung beans and add them to the pot along with two cups of water. Place a lid on the pot and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Depending on how long you soaked your mung beans for, they should be cooked in 20-30 minutes. Remove the lid to cook off any remaining liquid. Kitchari is similar to dahl in consistency and served over brown basmati rice with fresh cilantro. I like a squeeze of fresh lime.

This recipe is adapted from The Ayurvedic Institute. I've made it easy for you; just throw everything in a pot at the same time! We ate this for dinner the first night I made it and then had enough leftovers for lunch for the next three days! Now that's my kind of meal planning 😂